In 1956, he finished the Kiev Financial-Economic Institute, after which he worked in various financial institutions in Zaporizhia Oblast. In 1975, Vadym Hetman was named the first vice-president to the Head of the Government Committee of Pricing of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1987, he became the head of the Agricultural-Industrial Bank of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1990 — Bank "Ukraine").

On March 24, 1992, Vadym Hetman was accepted as the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine.[4] He supervised early monetary reforms in newly independent Ukraine through 1993, when he resigned from his position as the head of the supervisory board of the National Bank. However, he maintained close ties with his successor, Viktor Yushchenko. Interestingly, Hetman's signature appears on the original banknotes of Ukraine's national currency, the hryvnia, which was introduced only in September 1996.

Hetman was also a member of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) from 1990 to 1998. He went for his second term as deputy in 1994 from the Talne electoral district of Cherkasy Oblast, but as a nonpartisan. He received 50.97% of the vote in the first round of voting.

He ran for his third term in March 1998, but failed to get re-elected, receiving only 21.85% of the vote, 3.87% below the required percentage to win. His challenging opponent in the parliamentary election was the first vice-president of the Minister of Information of Ukraine, Mykhailo Onofryichuk.[5]

He is also known to have complained to the then President Leonid Kuchma about voting irregularities within the parliament itself.

Despite the Luhansk City Court's verdict, the case remains far from being certain. In early August 2005, the media reported that the convict filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Ukraine on grounds that he had been forced to make a false confession. His lawyer subsequently made a public statement that the case was entirely fabricated.